For the Holiday – in Memory of Frank

It’s not military-oriented, but it is part of the holiday’s history – and much of the celebration of the holiday is around the subject of freedom. This was an expression of that freedom. I really miss Frank’s communications with me whenever I did a radio show about left history.

This is on display at Bolerium Books. This is the caption on their Facebook Page:

Memorial Day, 1969… A call to tear down the fences around People’s Park in Berkeley. This issue of Outcry! unfolds into a Frank Cieciorka poster celebrating the creation of the park from a trash-strewn lot. Text on other side encourages the residents of Berkeley to pour into the streets on the holiday and remove the barricades that had been put up around the park by police.

13 comments

yes, cool tie-in Eric, Frank, generally Known as a photo realist painter of the local scene was definitely on the ramparts as peoples artist back in the day.
I have wonderful book he gave me- THE INDIGNANT EYE, inscribed: “to Joshua & Art for social justice- Cieciorka” that traces the rich history of art as social criticism. I also cherish a newsprint poster, that must have been from Outcry! also that runs down the history and absurdity of effete gallery art and creating a false preciousness with limited edition prints- (I have one of the clenched fist prints this one is derived from) he was lamenting art as a commodity, radical stuff.

You know what they say: if you give free expression to artists, soon everyone will want it. we can hope anyway! cheers.

-yes HOJ, of course its value is largely sentimental. All suzy’s asking is what that nostalgia translates to in real dollars and cents. The artist’s original work brings several thousand (i’d guess). This piece is old and in good condition. He’s dead and wont be making any more art. So depending on how rare it is (are there hundreds of copies or only a few) –how much do you think it could bring in?

Frank was an awesome artist. I was honored and completely knocked when one day he asked me if he could do a portrait of me. Couldn’t believe it. I still have the portrait, and cherish both his and Karen’s friendship. A very interesting man he was.

For anyone who cares what the rest of the world thinks: Frank was mentioned, and his iconic fist was reproduced, in the issue of TLS (the Times Literary Supplement, from London) that arrived in my mail box last week.

-HOJ, i figure if there’re over a hundred of them in existence it’s worth about $15-20. But if there are only three in existence $75-150. The original, over a thousand. And the fiddle $2000-3000. However if the fiddle were stolen again and went “mysteriously missing” again it would get yet more press attention and that would raise the price considerably. Then if it is again featured in even more film documentaries and yet another song comes out about it, “who stole my fiddle again …” its legendary symbolic value could go as high as 10-25K. Expect to see that happen. I think the most profitable scenario would be if a big star like Springstein or Jackson Browne made a big hit about it. Then there would be no limit to how high its value could go

It’s too bad SoHummers are not very artistically sophisticated and like most people find realism, landscapes and portraits to be “art” while modern art and modern artists go mostly unrecognized in Humboldt County. While Frank’s works show excellent craftsmanship and are always popular, who in Humboldt County knows that one of the Fillmore poster artists is living here and not receiving any recognition, never paid royalties on all those Fillmore posters. Why? Because like me, his art was psychedelic and gallery owners were loathe to show any art associated with illegal drugs–so the world got Pop Art extended and the Psychedelic Art movement is still the only art movement in world history to be virtually covered up. Realism is always popular but where is the community support for the art movement of our ’60’s generation?

-Steven, a fist coming out of a flower is psychedelic. I knew Frank a little bit and he once talked to me about how he took LSD back before it was illegal. What can i say, he gave me this knowing smile. He said he had a positive experience with it. I used to borrow cigarettes from him when i’d see him around. I thought he was really nice.